Wednesday, May 18, 2005

It’s May and babies are busting out all over. My cousin had her son, Liam, on Saturday. He’s a darling. Of course, the first day they sort of look like old men but heck, they’re still cute. It takes awhile for them to plump back up. I can best describe them as raisins that need a good soaking in rum.

I won’t go into a lengthy discussion on Star Wars today. I will tell you that my husband seemed a bit disappointed I didn’t purchase tickets yet. I told him to purchase them himself. Heck, he took Friday off just so he could recoup. “Oh. Me? Ok.” That was yesterday and odds are he hasn’t purchased them yet which means we’ll never get into the midnight showing.

Yes, we’re the ubergeeks that go to midnight showings. Harry Potter, Star Wars, Spiderman, The Matrix; we were alongside the geekdom. We just don’t dress up. Honest. Ok, maybe once.

How would kids cut into these midnight screenings? According to some parents they don’t. I remember reading an article about a couple that left their toddler home alone so they could catch the midnight screening of Star Wars. Now, I wouldn’t go that far. Although now that I think about it, technically speaking, he/she wouldn’t be alone if my dogs were there. But some people bring their offspring with them to the show.

First of all, don’t kids have a scheduled bed time? Secondly, I’m not so sure that subjecting a child to the ‘Dark Side’ so early will leave a positive affect on them. When I was younger, my dad so desperately wanted to see Scarface, he dragged me and my brother with him. Let’s just say I can’t look at chainsaws and bathtubs the same ever again.

Finally, let’s have some courtesy for your fellow moviegoers. If your kid can’t make it past a 90 minute movie without running up and down the aisle or needs to be breastfed at some point during the movie, let’s rethink the plan.

Now I have nothing against children at movies. I just think children shouldn’t be viewing midnight screenings nor should they be at an adult-oriented movie, especially if they can’t sit still for long periods of time.

I know certain chains have begun mommy and me movie showings which seem like a good idea. What if they also offered some type of daycare area? Suppose you want to see War of the Worlds and little Johnny isn’t quite old enough to view this program, for the price of a kid’s ticket, little Johnny can go to the kidaplex where adult childcare supervisors watch your kid while they check out Lindsey Lohan in Herbie the Love Bug. Parents would receive a radius pager and will be paged if they are needed.

I know this probably is cost prohibitive in a society where lawsuits abound. So until this becomes feasible, I ask all ubergeek parents to be courteous and let your fellow geeks enjoy searching for goofs and continuity gaps without distractions.